Over a hundred Georgetown students partipicated in a rally Tuesday on Capitol Hill to protest a bill that threatens to hike some college costs by thousands of dollars.
The event, which also drew students from other Washington, D.C. schools, sought to raise awareness and opposition to a budget reconciliation bill. It proposes to cut approximately $14.5 billion from the federal budget by changing interest rates on federal student loans.
The bill will be voted on by the House of Representatives as early as next week.
Armed with signs and T-shirts demanding that Congress “Stop the Raid on Student Aid,” Georgetown students met at the front gates Tuesday morning and boarded three buses to the Capitol Building. Once there, students gathered in a conference room and listened enthusiastically as Representatives George Miller (D-Calif.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) blasted the House leadership for the proposed bill before TV cameras and members of the media.
Both Congressmen said the bill would increase the costs of borrowing money for college by an average of $5,800 a year.
“The Republicans finally came up with a bold new idea: make college more expensive,” Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, said.
Several students from Georgetown and Howard Universities spoke passionately about the effects this increase would have on them.
“Having students put a face on the problem was very effective,” Pilar Siman (SFS ‘07), who attended the protest, said. “A majority of Georgetown students have some financial aid, but most have not realized yet how much this affects them.”
The Georgetown University Legislative Advocates, the College Democrats and the Georgetown University Student Association co-sponsored the rally. The groups came up with the idea for the event last Thursday and spent the weekend rushing to recruit students, call other groups and schools and hire buses with GUSA funds, College Democrats President Peter Solecki (CAS ‘07) said.
“We only found out on Monday which, if any, Congressmen would show up,” he said.
Whatever the result of the House vote, the issue will be debated for the next several months, Scott Fleming (SFS ‘72), head of the University’s Federal Relations Department, said.
If the bill passes, he said, it will make it more difficult to repay the student loans that Georgetown depends on to help a majority of its students finance their education. “The loans are important to maintaining the diverse student body which enriches the educational experience for all Georgetown students,” Fleming said.
